On 28 October, unions from COATS factories met online to discuss the effect of the pandemic on the workplace. For the first time, IndustriALL and union leaders formed a COATS global trade union network.

As the auto industry is facing plunging sales and factory shutdowns, autoworkers and their unions welcome GM’s and Fiat Chrysler’s decisions to invest in unionized factories to manufacture electric vehicles.

Ten days ago we launched a campaign with LabourStart demanding the release of jailed trade union leaders in Belarus. After thousands of messages from trade union activists around the world, they have now been freed.

On 1 October, IndustriALL Global Union and Japanese sports equipment and sportswear company Mizuno, renewed the global framework agreement which had first been signed in 2011. Japanese unions UA Zensen and Mizuno Workers’ Union, Japan, are also signatories.

Three unionists from Industrial Workers Federation of Myanmar (IWFM) are running for general election as independent candidates on 8 November in the country’s main industrial zones, aiming to champion workers’ rights in the federal and regional parliaments.

IndustriALL and ITUC vowed to stand together in solidarity with the Indian union movement, supporting their struggle against the anti-worker policies of the Modi government.

Unions in South East Asia are calling on governments to ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98 to protect freedom of association and ban anti-union discrimination when organizing.

After a strike which has lasted for 58 days, IndustriALL Colombian affilaite Sintracarbón and Cerrejón, owned by multinationals Glencore, BHP and Anglo American, are finally launching a series of meetings.

When Tanex, a Romanian supplier for Inditex, failed to pay some of their workers in full, IndustriALL affiliate UNICONF contacted the employer, citing IndustriALL’s global framework agreement with Inditex as a way of moving forward.

The Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metalworkers (AUKMW) has launched an app that will be used to recruit and organize new members to the union.

Yet again people in Belarus are standing up against Lukashenko, and yet again authorities are responding with violence and oppression.

As reported cases of Covid-19 skyrocketed in Myanmar, the government, employers and trade unions have taken strong measures to protect workers’ lives.

Workers and activists at Belaruskali, a potash fertilizer producer located in Soligorsk, face threats, repression and imprisonment in their fight for freedom and democracy in Belarus.

The Philippine government has made a U-turn after previously saying employers economically constrained by Covid-19 would be allowed to defer the 13th month bonus, after being slammed by IndustriALL Global Union affiliates the Associated Labor Unions (ALU), All Workers Alliance Trade Unions (AWATU) and Integrated Labor Organisation.

The Italian affiliates of IndustriALL Global Union, FIM-CISL, FIOM-CGIL and UILM-UiIL, representing workers of Whirlpool, a multinational that produces home appliances, are staging two days of protest action on 22 and 23 October. They demand a review of the company’s decision to close down its Naples site by the end of October 2020. The decision jeopardizes over 400 jobs.

IndustriALL Global Union affiliates in Nigeria are supporting the popular youth protests to stop police brutality in the country. The protests have seen thousands of youths take to the streets and are trending on social media under the hashtag #EndSARS.

On 29 November, Switzerland will hold a nationwide referendum on the Responsible Business Initiative. A vote in favour of the initiative will make companies headquartered in Switzerland legally responsible for what happens in their supply chains.

Since the global outbreak of Covid-19, ACT brands and IndustriALL have observed an increased level of union busting in the global garment and footwear supply chain. To protect and promote Freedom of Association in Myanmar, an ongoing collaboration between IndustriALL, Myanmar-based union IWFM and ACT brands plays a critical role in protecting workers’ rights.

Garment workers in Sri Lanka were herded off into quarantine by the army in the middle of the night following a rapid increase of infections. Unions say that this could have been avoided by forming the recommended health committees.

Workers and unions in Indonesia who went on a national strike on 6-8 October after the country’s Parliament passed the controversial Omnibus law, were met with violence and arbitrary arrests.